FREE Online Art Contest

Back in November, I held an online art contest with the hopes of helping to educate and inspire other artists. The response was tremendous and I received entries and emails from all over the world. I had the opportunity to view some amazing work and was encouraged to see dedicated artists pursuing their artistic goals.

Because of the many requests that I’ve received, I’ll be having a brand new “You be the Judge” art contest that will begin on February 6, 2012.

Similar to my last contest, the goal is to help educate and inspire, but I’ve also added something new in order to further help artists on their journey towards reaching their goals. I would also like to help equip artists by providing some tools and equipment that they can use in their daily painting.

“Educate, Inspire, Equip”: These are three goals that play an extremely important role in the growth and development of an artist and ones that I wanted to incorporate into this new contest.

• Educate – In order to fully put into practice the principles of representational art, you must have access to the information that is needed for learning.

• Inspire – Nothing will help motivate you to pick up a brush and start painting more than being inspired by the work of master painters. By seeing the successful accomplishments of other artists, it will encourage you in your own work.

• Equip – After you have the information needed for painting and are inspired to put those principles into practice, all that is needed are the supplies to do so.

With the help of some incredible artists and companies, I’ve put together a grand prize package that’s designed specifically for artists in order to help them in their studies.

Each of these artists and companies have made this grand prize package possible by donating one or more of their products to be included. In order to fully describe each item, I’ll be writing a series of blogs which will include photos and specific details about each of the included items. All of these artists and companies are ones that I highly recommend to others and wanted to share that same experience and superior quality with you as well.

Here are some photos of the items that are included in the Grand Prize package for the winning artist.

Now for the rules of the contest and information about submitting your artwork:

• The contest is open to all artists worldwide.

• All entries must be a representational painting using a wet medium such as oil, acrylic, watercolor, etc. (No digital artwork or photography accepted)

• The subject and size is up to you (portrait/figure, landscape, still life, etc.) with one exception- No nudes allowed.

• You may submit a maximum of two entries per artist.

• Entries may be submitted in either JPEG or TIFF format. A larger photo that is in focus will allow me to view the painting at its best and will work to your advantage. Be sure to crop the image exactly as you want it to appear on screen. No frames or borders around the image- Just the image, itself.

• Any painting that was chosen as a finalist in my last contest (this includes any painting that was posted on my blog) is not eligible to be entered into this contest.

Remember, I can only go by the image that you send me, so be sure it’s your best.

I’ll be accepting submissions for the contest starting today and you can submit up to a total of two entries per artist until midnight on March 31, 2012.

You can email me your artwork at BPortrait@aol.com. Be sure to title your email “Art Contest 2012” so that it doesn’t get put into my spam folder. Include your name, email address where you can be reached, and the title, dimensions and medium of each of your submitted entries.

Here’s how the contest will work. I’ll begin posting fifteen paintings every two weeks from the entries that I’ve received. After that, it’s up to you to decide who the winners will be. Viewers will then have the opportunity to vote for their favorite painting. At the end of each bi-weekly contest, the top three artists who received the most votes during that time period will win a free download of their choice from my Principles of Painting DVD series (Drawing, Value, Color or Edges).

These artists will also be entered into the final round at the end of the contest for a chance to win the Grand Prize.

The winners of the bi-weekly contests will be recognized by being awarded a “digital ribbon” on their entry, indicating that they are a finalist in the Grand Prize round. There will be a total of five bi-weekly contests, each consisting of fifteen paintings for viewers to vote on.

A blue ribbon placed on an entry indicates that the painting will be included in the Grand Prize round at the end of the contest.

Only one entry per artist will be eligible for the Grand Prize, so if you enter two paintings, only one can make it to the final round. If one of your paintings is included in a bi-weekly contest, but doesn’t receive enough votes to be a finalist for the Grand Prize, you still have a chance to make it to the Grand Prize round if your remaining painting is chosen for another bi-weekly contest and receives enough votes to be a finalist. So, the earlier that you enter the contest, the more opportunities you will have for your artwork to be included in one of the five bi-weekly contests.

The last bi-weekly contest will take place on April 2, 2012, so all entries must be submitted by midnight on March 31, 2012.

The Grand Prize round will take place on April 16, 2012 and will consist of 15 finalists (determined by the winners of the bi-weekly contests). Voting for the Grand Prize round will end on April 28 and the winner will be announced on April 30, 2012.

At the end of the contest, the painting that receives the most votes will be the Grand Prize winner. The artist with the second highest vote count will receive a download version of my complete instructional art series (Drawing, Value, Color, Edges and Painting Outdoor Light). Third place will receive a download version of my instructional art video, Painting Outdoor Light.

Now, if that wasn’t enough, here’s the best part of all: THE CONTEST IS FREE TO ENTER! All you have to do is email me your entry.

Any shipping costs will be paid for by either me or the individual sponsors of the contest. Any import charges or taxes outside of the United States, in addition to standard shipping costs, will be the responsibility of the Grand Prize winner and are not included in the prize package.